


Remembering

by luna55



Category: The Lost Future of Pepperharrow - Natasha Pulley, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Mori gets his memory back, Spoilers, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow - Freeform, post-sequel, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23734972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna55/pseuds/luna55
Summary: Contains spoilers for "The Lost Future of Pepperharrow"“Mori opened the door slightly, before Six came through it. Thaniel sat still, feeling like he was hearing bells in the distance. Mori had been waiting for her.”-	The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, Natasha PulleyOn hearing bells, or alternatively, Mori gets his 'memory' back.
Relationships: Keita Mori/Thaniel Steepleton
Comments: 5
Kudos: 63





	Remembering

**Author's Note:**

> This work contains spoilers for the Lost Future of Pepperharrow.

_“Mori opened the door slightly, before Six came through it. Thaniel sat still, feeling like he was hearing bells in the distance. Mori had been waiting for her.”_

_**The Lost Future of Pepperharrow** , Natasha Pulley_

_London, September 1891_

It didn’t come back all at once. But in snatches, like Mori’s brain was a wood ravaged by some terrible fire that had scorched everything in sight, and little by little, new shoots were growing.

It was small things at first. Opening a door just before Six came in. Catching a plate that fell off the table much faster than would be expected. Having a second cup of tea waiting the day Fanshaw’s electrics had exploded all over the Foreign Office and Thaniel arrived home early with Chelsea buns for tea.

Then one day sitting in his workshop, a spring flew out of a clock he was making, and he swore, quietly but distinctly, in Russian. Thaniel who was sitting the other side of the workbench, re-working one of his compositions, looked up sharply.

‘You don’t speak Russian anymore’ he said, blandly. Mori’s dark eyes met his grey ones.

Thaniel had noticed the changes in Mori, the return of fluidity, the way he didn’t always wait quite until the end of the question to know what Thaniel was on about, when he started to neglect to look both ways before crossing the busy roads of Knightsbridge. He made up his mind to ask Mori about it several times, but always ended up deciding not to.

Mori looked at him, somewhat hesitantly, like a child who had been found to be pretending to have a limp and was now worried his parent will be angry with him.

‘Yes, well,’ he said, ‘I think I remember a few words.’

Thaniel just looked at him. Mori looked down.

‘It started to come back, I think, I’m not sure. I can’t remember much, just little things. I thought I was just imaging it at first. Six is so determined, she plans a course of action and she takes it. I can hardly see you at all, you still change your mind so often. I thought, maybe, you’d be upset with me’

‘Why would I be upset with you?’ asked Thaniel, nonplussed, frowning a little.

‘Well, I thought that maybe you’d not like it, maybe you preferred when life was a little, well, quieter. I did get you nearly blown up twice, and shot’

Thaniel reached out and took Mori’s hand, careful not to disturb the clockwork.

‘Kei, you goose, I was with you for four years before we went to Japan. I’ve been with you in the year after. When will you get it into your head that I’m not going anywhere?’

Mori looked up at him, his eyes full, he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and looked towards the workshop door. A moment later, Six came through, soaking wet and frowning. Thaniel withdraw his hand from Mori’s.

‘Those Haverly boys are most infuriating’ she said, searching through Mori’s workshop drawers. ‘Can I borrow this?’ she took something clockwork and vaguely animal shaped out of the drawer and left again without waiting for an answer. She hadn’t looked at them.

Thaniel and Mori looked at one another, small smiles spreading across their faces as they heard the yells of the Haverly boys from the back yard.

‘What did she take?’ asked Thaniel.

‘I don’t know’ said Mori, ‘I haven’t touched that drawer in years, I can’t remember what I put in there.’

~~~

Thaniel went to bed that night turning over and over in his mind whether it did make a difference that Mori was _remembering_ again. Life certainly was more eventful when Mori was remembering things, but he was right. It was more dangerous too. He couldn’t fall asleep. He had just made up his mind to go and see what Mori was doing when he heard a gentle knock at the door.

He jumped. It wasn’t uncommon for Mori to come through to his room now, it was a development he liked, but not one he was entirely used to.

‘Come in,’ he called, belatedly. The door opened and a slightly relieved looking Mori entered the room.

‘I became worried you didn’t want to see me’ he said. Thaniel shifted over, clearly making room for him. The nights were already starting to turn colder, and Mori was shivering slightly. They would be heading to Cornwall soon to escape the fog.

‘Get in before you freeze to death’ said Thaniel, trying to remain light-hearted. Mori settled slowly into the warm gap Thaniel’s body had left, curving into him. When he spoke, his voice was muffled against Thaniel’s chest.

‘I can’t do anything with it, you know’

‘You mean it’s too weak’ said Thaniel.

‘No, I mean, yes, but also I promised Takiko that I wouldn’t, if she helped me, I promised I would never use it to arrange anything of any significance, ever again. That’s what she asked of me.’

‘Oh,’ said Thaniel, an unknown tension releasing from his shoulders, ‘Well, I guess that’s good then’. His hand came up to run through Mori’s hair.

Mori placed a gently kiss at the base of his neck and Thaniel sighed. He wondered idly how Mori would find it, if his memory came back fully, remembering and not being able to do anything about it. He wondered if maybe that was worse, and was about to ask Mori about it, but felt him tensing at that future possibility and thought better of it.

‘Goodnight Kei’ he whispered into the dark,

‘Goodnight Thaniel’ said Mori. Thaniel listened to Mori’s breathing slowing down, and eventually dropped off to sleep.


End file.
